Curiosity and the Cat
by finem
Summary: [TaitoYamachi] It started with a game of truth or dare where Matt admitted to thinking about kissing other guys. Now Tai can’t stop thinking about Matt, and he’ll find out the fun way just where curiosity can take you.


**Standard Disclaimer: **Tai, Matt, and the whole Digimon gang will live forever him my heart, but unfortunately, residence does not equal ownership. They're not mine…I just love 'em.

**Notes:** Ah yes…yet another one of finem's random smexy one-shots. This is my contribution to a small movement happening somewhere in net space to revive the dying Taito/Yamachi fandom. Since I still love those kids all kinds, I'm happy to do my part to remind people they exist. Hope you like it!

Dedicated to **The Glass Slipper** who rekindled my desire to write for these two, and anybody else out there with mad love for Taito.

-:-finem-:-

**Curiosity and the Cat**

It started with a game of Truth or Dare. Mimi was visiting from the States and Jou was on break from school, so it was the first time in over a year that all of the original Chosen could be together. Jou had moved out of his parents place a few months before and had invited us all over to spend the weekend together for old times sake. There were a few drinks involved, but not enough for us to be wasted. We were just sort of enjoying each other's company and then Mimi decided that we were gonna play Truth or Dare and Mimi usually got what Mimi wanted so we played. It was all innocent enough. We asked the typical questions that teenagers ask each other in these kinds of games, came up with the most random dares we could and pretty much made asses of ourselves in the process. Then Sora unsuspectingly dropped a bomb that would prove to fair distraction for me over the following days. It was her tern to ask, and Yamato had chosen truth, and with a slightly curious or evil glint in her eye she asked:

"Have you ever though of kissing another guy?"

Matt shrugged and told her, "Sure, haven't you?" All nonchalance as though it were the most uninteresting topic anyone could think to ask about.

"Well, yeah," Sora replied, "but that's totally different."

"I don't see how," Matt replied with a smirk, then turned to Koushiro to ask the question again.

Now I get that I'm not the smartest cookie in the jar, but something seemed very strange to me about that statement. I mean, Matt wasn't gay. Over the years that I had known him he'd had a couple of girlfriends and seemed to like them just fine. But if that were the case, then why would he be thinking about kissing other guys? And how could he think that it was no different from Sora thinking about kissing other guys? I looked around the room to see if anyone else was having the same problem I was computing that information, but all eyes were focused on Izzy who seemed to be blushing an interesting shade of red, and my kid sister was whispering something in Takeru's ear giggling. Clearly I had missed something.

"So who is it?" Matt was asking.

"I believe that the rules of the game state that you are allowed only one question per turn." Izzy replied then turned nervous eyes to me to ask the question yet again as his blush seemed to deepen.

"Truth or Dare, Taichi?" he asked. I shot him my best grin before replying, "Dare." There seemed to be too much truth going around the room and who better to spice things up a little than daring little me? Izzy seemed a little taken by surprise by my response and got the funniest confused look on his face as he tried to come up with a suitable dare that hadn't been done already. Sora, again with that same quasi-evil glint in her eyes quickly leaned over and whispered into his ear something that caused Izzy to turn a shade of scarlet heretofore unknown to man. Shaking his head furiously and throwing me a panicked look he suddenly blurted

"I dare you to…lick…Jou's toe hairs!" The room went entirely silent, and any thoughts I had about anything else flew straight out my head at the complete randomness of the dare. I looked over at Jou who had turned a sickly sort of green when the words left Izzy's mouth.

"No way Tai!" he said even as I crawled towards him, stalking him like the prey he had become. "My toes are ticklish! I don't have any toe hair! I have feet fungus! My toes are covered in flesh eating bacteria! Stop!" His excuses got more and more ridiculous as I peeled his sock from his foot, and moved my mouth towards his big toe shooting him an evil grin. He squeaked as my tongue flicked out over the few thin strands of hair growing out of his toe then yelped as I drew the whole thing into my mouth for good measure. The look on his face was priceless and I couldn't keep from laughing at him uproariously along with the others.

"Tai…" he growled at me shaking his head. I just shot him another winning grin, catching a strange look from Matt out the corner of my eye. What was _that_ about? Something else to file away for later contemplation.

The rest of the evening was fairly uneventful. We had a blast talking and just hanging out. We all fell asleep on the floor together like old times, talking late into the night and stopping to "really" go to sleep 5 times before we managed it. All thoughts of the questions that had piled up over the evening left me for the rest of the night, but contrary to popular belief, things don't just go in through one of my ears and out the other. They stick in my head, and while I'm a little slow to fully get things sometimes, that doesn't mean that I don't think about them. For the night, I was done contemplating Matt's response to Sora's question and the weird look he shot me, but I was far from finished thinking about it all together.

oo—oOo—oo

So Matt wasn't gay but he thought about kissing other guys. Is it bad that I was so fixated on that? After the weekend had ended and we were in school, and my brain started wandering as it usually did in Homeroom, the thought came back. It's not like it was a problem…not like I really cared, but I had just never really thought about anything like that before. I mean…he didn't even flinch at the question. What did that mean? Did it mean that he would be ok with kissing another guy? Did it mean that he _wanted_ to kiss another guy? And just who had he been thinking about kissing? One of the guys in our group? Jou? Koushiro? Me? It struck me that I didn't mind that thought at all. I mean, I'd made-out with my fair share of girls, but I'd really never thought about making-out with another guy before. I just didn't think I'd be into it, but the idea of kissing Matt was somehow not as repulsive as I thought it would be. In fact, I was kinda surprised by the stab of _something_ that attacked my gut at the thought.

That of course sparked a whole new train of thought. I wasn't gay, but I didn't mind the thought of making-out with another guy. So exactly what did that mean? Was it something about Matt? Did I have a thing for blonds? Would the thought of kissing a different guy cause a different response. I found myself imagining locking lips with Izzy instead of Matt, and found that while the idea wasn't exactly repulsing, it just seemed really _awkward_ in my head and I didn't get even a hint of that something in my gut that I got from thinking about Matt. Now I was _really _confused. What did it mean that I was completely ok with the idea of making-out with one of my best friends in the world? More than ok. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more 'more than ok' I was with it…

Before I could get any further along that line of thought, the bells chimed marking the end of homeroom and I found Matt suddenly in front of me, another odd look on his face. He was smirking down at me, almost smug, as if he knew what I was thinking about and was mocking me for not getting it. Well excuse me for being a little slow. This was seriously complicated stuff. I mean the guy's my best friend and apparently he's into guys, and I didn't mind that fact, so maybe I was into guys too, but more specifically, maybe I was into him, and if the feeling was mutual then that would mean some major changes in our relationship…changes that wouldn't necessarily be bad…changes that could be very _not_ bad…

"Tai, what are you thinking about? You look like a cat that just got into the cream." I looked up at Matt's words, catching his smirk focusing on his lips and wondering. What would it be like to kiss him? Since I was apparently ok with the idea, my curiosity was piqued. I really wanted to know just how much closer we would become if we decided to take a stab at something beyond friendship. Of course there was one little detail I was skipping. I still didn't know if he actually had any interest in me. This was all guesswork based on my admittedly sketchy deductive abilities.

"Tai?" I realized that I had been spacing out staring at Matt's lips and found myself sputtering as I pulled my thoughts back into the real world.

"Uh…just worrying about tests on Thursday," I lied with a sheepish grin. "Math's gonna be killer."

"Hey, I'll help you with Math is you help me with Social Studies," he offered, and I grinned up at him, previous thoughts completely leaving my mind.

"Why don't you come over to my place tomorrow night. My dad'll be out late so we can study together without any distractions."

Or at least they had until he mentioned being alone together in his apartment. At that suggestion, all kinds of crazy thoughts began spinning through my head and I found my pulse racing even as I smiled up at Matt and agreed to go home with him the next day. Oh, the possibilities. I was pretty distracted for the rest of the day after that.

oo—oOo—oo

So….studying with Matt actually turned out to be studying with Matt and _Sora_, and it shouldn't take a brain surgeon to figure out that that put a bit of a damper on all of my plans for picking at Matt's brain…and maybe other parts of him. In the end it was probably for the best. Between Matt's near inhuman math skills, Sora's broad understanding of all things scientific, and my amazing ability to grasp current events and their significance, we actually managed to pull off some real studying. I actually felt fairly prepared for exams by the time we were all ready to call it quits.

"Jeeze! It's already almost 8!" Sora exclaimed when she caught site of the time. "My mom's gonna kill me! I told her I'd be home by 7!" Matt and I just watched chuckling as she frantically gathered her things and shoved them into her bag. "Why didn't you guys say something?!"

"Hey, you didn't tell us to watch the clock," Matt shrugged, standing to walk her to the door.

"Oh you both know how psycho my mom can be," she grumbled giving each of us a quick hug before hurrying out the door.

"Hey," I piped in, "you were studying. She can't be too pissed at you for being a good student."

"This is _my_ mother we're talking about here, Tai," she called back over her shoulder before vanishing down the stairs. Matt and I just looked at each other chuckling for a second.

"She has a point," he told me as he ushered us back into his place, closing and locking the door. I'd forgotten just how intense Sora's mom could be sometimes so I had to agree; Sora was probably in for an earful when she got home.

"She'll be fine," I shrugged beginning to gather my own things. "Well, since our study session seems to be over now, I guess I should be heading home, too."

'What, do you have a curfew too that you neglected to mention?" Matt asked, and I wasn't sure, but there seemed to be something more behind the question than what seemed to be on the surface.

"No. My folks know I'm over here. I could stay the night at far as they care as long as I let them know first."

"So then what's the rush?" he asked all innocence. "Stick around. I'll make us something for dinner. My dad's not due back for at least another 3 hours or so." For those who don't know, Matt is probably one of the most amazing cooks on the planet. The things he can do with a chicken breast and a piece of celery…

Anyway, suffice it to say that I have never turned down a meal from Matt and I wasn't about to start. Besides, this would be the perfect chance to get some questions answered; questions that had been burning in my brain for two days now. My curiosity was really killing me.

Matt hadn't waited for my response and headed into the kitchen to get to work, so I flopped back down on the couch and clicked on the TV. I don't know why I bothered. I hated TV. There was never anything good on other than soccer and that was in the off-season. I ended up flicking through channels aimlessly as I listen to the sounds of Matt working in the kitchen. It felt nice. I mean, it's always great to hang out with the whole gang, but there was just something about being alone with Matt that felt different…calmer I guess. Even though we had done it a thousand times before, just sitting there with the scent of garlic filling the air and the sounds of chopping coming from the kitchen felt like something more. Or at least I wanted it to be something more.

That question was bugging me again.

I clicked off the TV giving that up as a lost cause and began scanning his DVD rack. We could watch a movie while we ate. That would work. I looked from case to case, pretending to study the titles while actually thinking how best to ask him what I wanted to ask and what I even wanted his answer to be. I ran my hands through my hair suppressing a frustrated sigh. Standing there thinking about it was getting me nowhere, and I'd never been much for getting nowhere so…

"Hey Matt can I ask you something?" I called shoving my worry aside. "It's kinda personal." I mean the question was harmless enough and he was Matt. Our friendship had lasted through my awkwardness before, so really, there was nothing to worry about.

"You can ask but that doesn't mean I have to answer," he called back over the sound of running water. I waited for him to turn it off before speaking again.

"You remember when we were playing Truth or Dare on Saturday and Sora asked if you ever thought about kissing another guy?" There was a slight pause in the clanking of dishes before sounds of working started up again.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"I was just wondering if you were being serious." It was a little weird having this conversation with us in two separate rooms, but it was easier to ask him when I didn't have to look at him while doing it. Yeah, yeah I know. Not very courageous, tell it to someone who cares.

"The game is called _Truth_ or Dare for a reason, Tai," he told me and I shot him a withering glare that he couldn't see for the sarcastic tone of his voice.

"Yeah, well," I grumbled at him, turning from the DVDs just as he was walking from the kitchen and placing a couple of bowls on the small table we used for meals. "Hey, what is that?" I asked, all thoughts of sarcasm and kisses leaving my mind in the face of food.

"Nothing special," he said laying out cups and silverware. "Just some linguini and asparagus tossed in a light garlic sauce. I was gonna make a salad but, didn't feel like it." I barely heard what he said as I sat down, drooling over the meal in front of me. Garlic _and_ asparagus in one dish.

"Nothing special!?" I asked, never taking my eyes from my plate, "You realize that this is a wet dream come true, right?" Matt shot me a strange look at that.

"Kinky," he said, sitting across from me, and I shot him a glare making sure that he saw it this time. "Just eat your food," he told me laughing and shaking his head. I would have made some cleaver comeback, but I found that my hands had been working on their own while I hadn't been paying attention, and a fork full of pasta was already on its way to my mouth. After that, everything focused on the food in front of me.

It was Matt's cooking, so I wasn't surprised that it was good, but it seemed to be better than usual somehow. Flavors danced across my tongue balancing and mixing in ways that they never had before. The asparagus was cooked perfectly, crunching a little every time I bit into a piece, and whatever he had put into the garlic sauce needed to be outlawed. It was that good.

I stared at my empty plate sadly, tempted to lick up the remaining sauce but deciding against it. I wasn't an animal after all, but the meal had left me very happy and somewhat sedated. An odd heat was tingling through my blood and I just wanted to get more of that. It felt really nice. Maybe licking up the last of the sauce wouldn't be such a bad idea after all.

I peered up at Matt to make sure he wasn't watching me only to find that he was. He was staring at me with this really weird glint in his eyes. It was sort of the same look he gave me in Homeroom the day before. He still had pasta on his plate and a few stray asparagus heads, and he was swirling the rest of his food in the creamy sauce pooled in his dish as he smirked up at me through his bangs. The heat in my blood seemed to spike at that look.

"So did you like it?" he asked, casually collecting the last of his pasta and swirling it in the sauce.

"That's one way you could put it," I answered distractedly as he lifted the noodles to his mouth. A little sauce smeared on his lips as he took the bite from his fork and I watched transfixed as his tongue licked the milky pearls away. I swallowed thickly as the heat intensified again and began localizing in more distracting areas of my anatomy.

"You okay over there, Tai?" he asked spearing his last asparagus head and swirling it in his remaining sauce. "You seem a little distracted." He lifted the asparagus, and a bit of sauce gathered at the head and dripped from its tip as he moved it to his mouth.

"_Shit,_" I breathed as a very sharp pang of desire spiked through me, and that forgotten question came back to me now that I was no longer distracted by food. It was suddenly very important that I found out the answer to that question, and there was only one acceptable answer I could take. Otherwise I would go insane.

"Hey, Matt," I began, voice a little shakey as Matt was in the process of lapping a little spilled sauce from a finger.

"Hmm?" he asked loudly removing the finger from his mouth. I could have strangled him for how casually he was behaving. Didn't he realize what he was doing to me?!

"One more question," It was getting a little hard to breathe. "Since you apparently think about making-out with other guys, I was wondering who it was you thought about." He looked at me then with a gleam in his eyes that was down right devilish…and really f-ing sexy, too.

"I don't know Tai, why do you ask?" He was standing from his chair and walking towards me now.

"N-no reason," I stuttered. The way he was walking should have been outlawed. I couldn't take my eyes off of those evil swaying hips. "J-just curious, I guess." He grabbed my shoulder, dragging me from my chair and back over to the couch before shoving me down to sit where we had been studying earlier.

"Curious. Really?" He asked, that oh-so-sexy smirk playing over his lips again. Obviously he really was trying to make me go crazy. That was the only reason I could think of for him to be looking at me that way. He leaned down close to me, breath moving across my skin causing me to shiver as very bad thoughts flashed through my mind, fueling the heat pooling in my stomach. He smelled like garlic and I had no problem with that. Garlic was one of my favorite things and I would have no problem with having garlic for dinner _and_ dessert. The smirk widened as he leaned in closer, and I closed my eyes as his heat washed over me.

"Well…" he began, ghosting his lips across my skin, "You know what they say about curiosity and the cat," and then his lips were on mine and the last thing in the world on my mind was that damn proverbial cat. His lips were salty and he tasted as garlicky as he smelled. I moaned into his mouth, head spinning as the heat that had been building inside me became unbearable and I pulled him down onto me, devouring his mouth as he tried to devour mine.

It was wet, and it was messy, but god, it was perfect. Everything I'd been wondering about since the sleepover was answered in that first moment of bliss, and as his tongue danced with mine in desperate need of his own, I couldn't understand how I could _not_ have realized before that this was what I wanted; what I _needed._

Somewhere in there, I had managed to pin him to the couch, me sprawled half on him and half on the floor. When we finally pulled apart gasping for air, I could hardly remember where I was or what I was doing, but I felt his hand grab at mine and lead it to a pulsating bulge straining against the front of his jeans. He moaned in a way that seriously pushed the edges of my sanity as my hand instinctively curled around the heat he had guided me to.

"That answer your question, kitty?" He asked in a sultry voice with a Cheshire grin that was begging to be wiped from his face. I squeezed again, eliciting the desired effect when he bucked up a little into my hand, moaning then purring like a cat himself.

"When's your dad coming home again?" I asked struggling to get the words out as my brain fought to stay coherent.

"Later," he all but growled, and then he was on his feet ripping my clothes off as he guided us to his room and shut the door firmly behind us. As his mouth explored the most sensitive parts of my body and my hands explored the most sensitive parts of his, everything else seemed to fade away. He was everything, mapping out and torturing parts that I barely understood could feel so good, and as I cried out in the end, burying my hands in his silky, golden hair, I couldn't help but think that if this was what had killed that dumb-ass cat, then it was definitely the way I wanted to go.

-:- -;- -:-

**A/N:**

HA! HA! HA! HA! Another pointless romancy one-shot thing. Why is it that my romances always end up involving food? Ok, so I've only written 2, but both have involved food as a fairly major plot point. This amuses me.

I went a little further this time beyond the initiative kiss, and it's looking more and more like smut might pop out one of these days. That will be interesting to see methinks.

Anyway, random notey thing. Asparagus and garlic are supposed to be aphrodisiacs or something according to some random site I found online, so this evening was totally premeditated by Matt. Who knows, Sora might have been in on it too since she _is_ the one who asked the question.

Hey, if you love Taito, send a shout. I'm so sad that this fandom has all but died out, so please drop a line to let me know I'm not the only one left. All it takes is a little **review**!


End file.
